Welcome to the GeekShot Photo Exclusive Series. This will be a weekly post featuring cool, interesting, or just plain awesome moments we have captured during San Diego Comic-Con. Each week we’ll post a photo by Beth or James of GeekShot Photography. We may include a short story about the photo, but sometimes we’ll just let the photo speak for itself.

About This Photo

Keri Russell and Gary Oldman at the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes panel at WonderCon 2014.

Since we talked about interactive photos in last week’s post, we’re going to talk about another aspect of panel photos, the reaction shot.

In the photo above Keri is reacting to something Gary said with laughter. While this is the most common reaction shot you can get at a panel it is by no means the only one. Things the other panelists and audience say or do can cause a panelist to react in a way that makes a good photo. As with the interactive shots, you usually have to be pretty quick to capture the moment. Most reactions are fleeting and last for only a second or two. This is why laughter is usually the easiest to catch as it lasts longer and happens more often.

Unlike the reaction shot there isn’t really one best place to sit in order to catch the reactions. Typically you just need to be close enough and have your camera ready the entire panel. You never know when it will happen!

A reaction shot can go bad however. It’s in your best interest to leave the photos of a reaction where the panelists looks bad/stupid/weird on the cutting room floor. While some of these photos may be funny, they don’t show you or them in the best light. It’s OK to have a shot with an extreme reaction or something odd happening, but ask yourself if it was you whether you’d want that photo public or not.

Did you capture a great reaction shot? Let us know in the comments.

You can see all of the previous posts in this series here.